Improvement in knitting-machine needles



NO 119651. Patented 0ct..3.-1871. 1

max 5R W.

UI'IEI) STATES A'r Qrrrcn.

S. H. ROPER, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN KNITTING-MACHINE NEEDLES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 119,651, dated October3, 1871.

following, taken in connection with the drawing which accompanies andforms part of this specification,is a description of my invention sufficient to enable those skilled in the art to practice it.

The invention relates to the construction of knitting-machine needles,or more particularly to the construction of the latch and the method ofapplying it to the shank of the hook. In knitting-machine needles as110w or heretofore made the shank, at a proper distance below the pointof the hook, is slotted through from front to back, and has a holedrilled through from side to side, or extending from each side into thisslot, the slot receiving the base of the latch, and the latch having ahole drilled through it and being hung in the slot upon a pin extendingthrough the holes made for its reception through the shank and throughthe latch. This construction is objectionable in that the wear of thelatch upon the pin soon cuts through the pin, letting the latch dropout,or in that the pin itself becomes loose and either drops out or letsthe latch out, or projects from the side of the shank so that the yarncatches upon it and breaks. Also, in that small protruding burs areformed at the ends of the bearing which support the pin, against whichprojections the loops catch in passing over the needle-shank. The objectof my invention is to overcome these defects, to accomplish which I makethe latch with trunnions integral with itselfthat is to say, I form thelatch and trunnions of one piece of metal, each trunnion being aprojection from one side of the latch, and I journal each trunnion in abearing sunk in the adjacent wall of the need1e-slot,but not extendingto the outer surface of the needle-shank and it is in theseimprovements, or in a needle havin such construction, that my inventionprimarily consists.

The drawing shows a knitting-machine needle and latch embodying myimprovements.

A and B show, respectively, side and edge views of the needle. 0 and Dshow, respectively, side and edge views of the latch. E is acrosssection through the latch-trunnions. a denotes the shank of theneedle; b, the hook thereof;

0, the latch; d, the slot made in or through the needle-shank to receivethe base of the latch c. This latch I make from steel wire, the diameterof which is equal to the length from end to end of the trunnions e. Thewire is fed to suitable dies, and by them swaged down to thelatchthickness in all parts excepting in line with the trunnions, sothat when thus thinned the two trunnions are left projecting from andsolid with the plate, and preferably conical or frusto-conical in form,as seen at O. The blanks thus formed are then pressed through a die togive them the proper contour or shape, and the latches are thenhardened. The slot, having been made through the needle, is then openedsufficiently to allow of the introduction of the trunnions, which, beingbrought to position with the end of each at the point where its bearingis to be, the needle is subjected to the action of concave dies and theopened sides of the slot are pressed together, forcing the trunnionsinto the needle at the opposite sides of the slot, as seen at E, andthus forming the hearing f for each and securing the latch to theneedle. The hole thus sunk by each trunnion does not go through to thesurface of the needle, and besides leaving such surface entirely smoothit will be seen that the entire superficies of each trunnion isbearing-surface, while the formation of the latch with trunnions solidor integral with it will of course prevent any movement of the latchrelatively to the trunnions, and consequent- 1y any tendency of thelatch to cut through them.

Thus the needle is made more enduring than the previous constructions oflatch-needles and as no latch-pin hole is drilled through theneedleshank small needles having this construction can be made ofstrength equal to or superior to larger latch-needles of previousconstruction, and the surfaces of the shank are free from anyobstructions tending to unduly catch the filaments of the yarn. By thereduction in the size of the needle the quality of knitted goods can beimproved in fineness and closeness. To enable the yarn to render morereadily over the latch and hook when the latch is closed I curve theshank so as to carry the. point of the hook back sufficiently to bringthe outer edge of the latch substantially into line with the frontsurface of the shank when the latch is closed, as seen at A.

I claim-- i 2. The complete needle, having all its parts 1. Aknitting-machine needle the hinged latch constructed and combined asherein described. of which has journals integral with itself, and S. H.ROPER.

secured in bearings sunk or indented in the walls of the slot, but notextending through to the Witnesses:

outer surface of the shank all substantially as FRANCIS GOULD,

described. S. B. KIDDER. (54)

